A significant part of my childhood in Vijayawada, India was spent awing every time the 'goli' pops before I was handed my drink. I was fascinated with the bottle. Goli Soda, as it is more commonly known in South India, is a codd-neck-bottled drink that is often sold with carbonated water or lime juice. With the advent of carbonated beverages, Goli Soda started having a slow death. In the March of 2015, I spent a week with the family of Aseefa, her neighbours and her vendor documenting 'a day in the life of' the bottle and the family dependent on it.

Aseefa begins her day by sorting out the bottles, washing and unclogging them.

Deepak, son of Aseefa's neighbor spends most of his day watching Aseefa work.

The bottles are then filled with a solution (lemon, water, salt etc) using a funnel and are placed in a machine that tightly holds the bottle and infuses carbon dioxide into the solution.

The soda machine that has been serving the family of Aseefa for over 30 years.

The machine is then rotated thrice so as to infuse carbon dioxide and push the marble to the top. A rubber ring around the neck protects the marble from falling out. Swinging the machine more than required has a dangerous consequence of excess pressure that can pop the marble out of the bottle.

Lemons used to make the solution.

Manjulatha, Deepak's sister loves walking around Aseefa's workstation to grab a sip or two of the drink.

Aseefa's husband has impaired eyesight that hinders him from performing the main chores.

Aseefa owns a set of around 50 bottles that she sells to various vendors in cases of 24 each at Rs.40/case.

One of Aseefa's vendor, Baby, with her cart.

On good days, Aseefa and Baby make approximately Rs.100. Summer is their busiest season while winter forces them to find other odd jobs to make a living. Aseefa lives a contented life with her husband and has two daughters, happily married and well settled.